On the eve of the Jason Becker ALS Benefit in Chicago, WRCX DJ Lou Brutus interviewed Edward Van Halen, Billy Sheehan, Steve Lukather and Pat Torpey to talk about the upcoming event.
Many thanks to SiejeC who typed the interview and posted it to the Van Halen List.
November 16, 1996
LB: Let's talk about Jason Becker first, how you guys know him and how the gig came together.
EVH: We're in a position where we can help and raise some awareness and some money for his family and.....God if it happened to one of us I hope somebody would do the same. It's like he's very much alive. You look in his eyes, ya know, but he can't eat, he can't talk, he can't move, and there's no cure for it. It's like he's a prisoner in his own body.
LB: (who put the benefit together)
EVH: The ALS foundation put it together.
LB: How did they come to choose Chicago, the Riviera?
EVH: This is where they're based.
LB: Where are you guys coming in from for this?
EVH: We came from L.A.
LB: Welcome to the Winter time boys.
EVH: It's going to be a lot of fun tomorrow. I think we go on last. It's for a great cause and we've got a few surprises for ya.
LB: Is it going to be one big band and then different guests, or is it seperate band?
EVH: No it's going to be just a bunch of different bands. We're one. What we're called yet, we don't know.
LB: We could have folks call and suggest names for Eddie, Steve, Pat and Bill. Why don't we give a free pair of tickets to the listener who comes up with the best name?
EVH: Sounds good. Mind if I smoke in here?
LB: Be my guest.
[puts on "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love"]
LB: ...So far we've got Synestasia
EVH: [groans]
LB: ....Guitarzans
EVH: Yeah, but there's a drummer in the band. Can't leave him out.
LB: Tell me about the kind of material you're going to do.
EVH: That's a surprise. (Billy Sheehan starts imitating Sammy Davis Jr.)
LB: How about Frank Sinatra? It's not often I get to play Sinatra on this goddamn radio station!
EVH: Are you on the air right now? We need a name for the band. C'mon folks.
LB: Let's play something from Frank Sinatra and take some calls while the music is playing.
EVH: Nothing too serious, something kind of left of center.
[A boring "I'm a Fool" Sinatra song plays]
LB: We've got a few more names....Union?
EVH: Nah
LB: Equality?
(Billy Sheehan calls it a Ross Perot campaign slogan)
LB: Ferocious Fury? (B.S. says it has too many F's)
LB: Exper-tease? (B.S. says it sound like a stripper)
LB: Delicious Vomit?
EVH: That's it. That's the best one.
LB: What have you guys been listening to lately? Edward you first.
EVH: I don't know. I've just been writing a lot, I don't know. What am I going to listen to? My wife yelling at me.
[Running With The Devil plays]
LB: Edward how did you end up pickin' and choosin' what the hell was going on there (the Best of)?
EVH: Well it is called Volume 1, so obviously there's another volume coming, sooner or later. But it really wasn't that tough for me personally. Off 1984, it didn't matter to me whether it was Panama or Hot For Teacher. I kind of look at it like all our records are kind of like our kids. There all a little bit different and I love them all.
LB: Was it all the band's decision?
EVH: I was probably the least involved. It was mainly Alex and Ray, our manager. I looked at the list and I said 'yeah, fine with me' The reason we did is cause my wife's on the internet all the time and there's a lot of fans and their first exposure to the band is the Balance record. They don't even realize we have 11 other albums out. So when they do find out they go, 'Which one should I buy?' So we figured if we put a Best Of out, ya know, two songs off each one in chronological order, it gives them a history of the band and where we're headed. And then if they like any particular two songs they can go buy the record.
LB: Do you ever go back and listen to albums that you've done?
EVH: Very rarely. Only before we go on tour and I have to learn the songs again. 'How's that lick go again?'
LB: (When you go out on tour) everybody wants to hear something different.
EVH: Well, ya know, you can't please everybody all the time. I think just
like anybody else, you want to play the new stuff most and then a few of the
ya know,
LB: How do you keep them all balanced?
EVH: Keep what balanced?
LB: Just the old and the new and how your trying to get it across to the audience.
EVH: Oh God, that's a tough one. I don't know until we get there with Gary ...Cherone....our new singer.
LB: Now let's talk about Gary, who I thought was a great choice. He's got two of the strongest lungs in western civilization. How did you guys hook up?
EVH: Ironically, Steve Hoffman, who's Ray Daniel's partner, managed Extreme. And Nuno's doing a solo record and he (Gary) was sitting around for a year waiting and finally the band just broke up. So he came out, and it was just magic.
LB: How do you break in a new musician into a band?
EVH: It's not a matter of breaking him in. It's just a chemistry that happens. I don't know how to explain it, it's just a magical thing. Music is a universal thing. It adds another flavor to the soup. It's exciting.
LB: When you first get together what kind of material do you play?
EVH: The first thing we did with Gary was obviously see if he could sing, pull off the old stuff. And he just blew us away with that. So ten minutes later we started writing"
LB: (to everyone) Have you ever gotten into situations where thought it was really going to work and then it fell on its face?
EVH: I think that's happened to all of us. Even after a long time you can find out it ain't workin.
LB: What are you reffering to?
EVH: [laughs]
LB: Who's going to be at the benefit?
EVH: A lot of guitar shredders. We're doing a tuba set. Oh God I blew it! (the surprise) [imitates himself playing a tuba]
LB: Is it a nice change of pace to do a gig like this?
EVH: Yeah, I mean it's very exciting for me to be able to play with these guys. Billy, Steve and Pat.
LB: What kind of music do you do outside of the regular stuff that you might do?
EVH: Well, you'll hear a taste of it on the next record, because my brother and I do write a lot of different stuff than just what's on the records. I have a tape library of, I don't know how much music. I mean, you've seen it (to Steve) that wall there, just hours, bathroom too. A little studio in the bathroom.
LB: Good acoustics.
EVH: Actually, yeah. We wrote all kinds of different stuff like over the credits of "Twister". My brother wrote that. Which is not what is considered Van Halen, but...it's his name. Alex and I were both classically trained pianists until the age of twelve, until we discovered rock 'n roll.
LB: Steve rattle off some of the people you've played with.
EVH: Indirectly, he and I played together. On "Beat It". He played the bass, I played the guitar. .....Have we agreed on a name? Somethin' sick, but fun.
LB: Edward, I need some help with ya man. Got married earlier this year and my wife and I are talkin' about kids names and she thinks Wolfgang is very uncool. I think Wolfgang Brutus would be a great name for a kid.
EVH: I think it's great, yeah. Ya know, we call him Wolfie.
LB: The Wolf!
EVH: No, just Wolfie.
LB: She's not into it.
EVH: Well, do we smell a divorce coming? What does she want?
LB: Brandon.
EVH: OK, why not Wolfgang Brandon? Brangang? Wolfdon? Hey, I've got a name for the band - Joe Banana and His Bunch, the group with appeal. [everybody give a sarcastic chuckle] Alright, I'll unplug.
LB: Speaking of kids, how does everybody do the holidays? Edward?
EVH: Last Christmas, just Valarie, Wolfie and I.
LB: Do you travel?
EVH: Oh no. Stay home. I mean, our lives are so - 90 per cent of it is spent traveling, so when we go on vacation we go home. The last tour we did 130 shows and Valerie, right now she's in Park City, Utah doing a mini- series for two months. So I've been Mr.Mom. Driving to school in the morning, going to PTA meetings and all that stuff.
LB: Do you like all that stuff?
EVH: I love hangin' with my son. You can take you leave of the PTA meetings.
Billy Sheehan: "Mr. Van Halen, we're having a problem with your son."
EVH: It's like, even though I'm the same age as the other parents, I just don't seem to fit. They kind of look at me like, 'Who's this guy?'
LB: Do they treat you any differently?
EVH: No, they just don't talk to me. No, just kidding. It's actually very interesting.
LB: What about (Santa Claus)?
EVH: Wolfie doesn't even care about Santa Claus, just where's my present.
LB: Any of your kids musicians yet?
EVH: I tune his guitar to a chord, and he's got great rhythm and stuff. I named my guitar after him. It's just coming out.
LB: Tell me about it.
EVH: Well, I designed it, Peavey builds it and it's called the Wolfgang.
LB: Any special things you can talk about it?
EVH: Well, its got a patented thing where you can take the low E string and pull this thing out and it'll automatically drop to a D. Whereas with the type of vibrato bar I use, you can't do that. Unless you have this thing.
LB: You also helped Dweezil Zappa along with his playing when he was a lot younger.
EVH: Oh yeah, he was 12 years old.
LB: Were you the producer on "My Mother Is A Space Cadet"?
EVH: Yes, we had the milk and cookies sittin' there, you blow a good solo - you get some milk and cookies. It's really funny because his dad's music, he couldn't quite tap. He couldn't count to four. He just didn't understand the concept because of his dad's music, a lot of it was off-metered stuff. It wasn't "Get Down Tonight". Dweezil had a rough time playing to a regular beat. So he just played, captured it, put it together and it worked.
(The group starts to talk about how music affects their kid's lives)
EVH: Our kids are surrounded by music all the time. Their environment is music. Wolfie already knows that's what he want to do.
LB: How do you encourage him?
EVH: I don't.
LB: Are they taken aback by anything?
EVH: I don't think they really have a clue. That's what daddy does and that's what I'd like to do. Ya know, they're surrounded by it all the time. I'm always in the studio. That's how I started. My earliest memories are of my father sittin' downstairs practicing clarinet. It just rubs off ya know.
LB: When did you first pick up a guitar?
EVH: 12
LB: Who made you want to play?
EVH: I was actually forced to. I started playing piano when I was six. Then I came to America in 1963, I was seven years old. And around 12, of course the Beetles, Dave Clark Five and all that. And Alex and I said 'F this piano stuff', so I wanted to play drums. So I bought a drum kit and had a paper route to pay for it. While I was out throwin' the papers Alex was playing my drums. And he was taking guitar lessons. Cause my mom and dad said, "If you're going to do something, do something respectable." So he was taking flemenco guitar lessons, but he got better on drums than I did, so I said 'OK take my damn drums, I'll play your guitar'.
LB: Thank you all for coming by.
EVH: What we're called yet, we don't know. Are we deciding now? Anybody else on the phone?
LB: I'll tell you what, we'll play another song, and take band names for another five minutes.
["Can't Get This Stuff No More" plays]
LB: Here's the last round of band names that have been suggested:
EVH: Why don't we just called it Lou? The Lou Brutus Experience.